


Blossom

by starstarfairy



Series: RinHaru Week 2019 [4]
Category: Free!
Genre: M/M, Pre-Relationship, except they're actually sakura trees, just a couple of pine trees
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-30
Updated: 2019-12-30
Packaged: 2021-02-27 09:28:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 954
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22024831
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starstarfairy/pseuds/starstarfairy
Summary: Rin and Haruka visit the cherry blossom tree at Iwatobi Elementary School again.RinHaruWeek 2019, Day 4 - Destiny, Blue prompt: Sakura
Relationships: Matsuoka Rin/Nanase Haruka
Series: RinHaru Week 2019 [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1584949
Comments: 6
Kudos: 26
Collections: Rin & Haru Week





	Blossom

**Author's Note:**

> Something I've always wanted from the eventual ending of the Free! series is for Rin and Haruka to see the cherry blossom tree in full bloom together. They've visited it together in canon, but every time they go it's not in bloom together, so I think the two of them seeing it in bloom at last would be a nice way to round that out. I've kind of given up hope for that to happen in canon, but I can always make it happen in my own world. So this is that.
> 
> Unbeta'd and barely edited because I'm literally writing all of these in just a couple of hours day by day. Somebody please save me (and please name my fics for me I'm running out of ideas)

“...Oh.” Rin paused before the cherry blossom tree, staring up at its branches with wide eyes. “I… kind of didn’t expect it to be in bloom yet,” he said, a bit breathlessly.

“Mm,” Haruka agreed. “Usually when we come here, it’s too early.”

“Yeah.”

A gentle breeze shook a few petals loose. One petal landed in Rin’s hair. Haruka reached out as if to touch it, but thought better of it at the last moment.

“It feels kind of weird,” Rin said. “It’s kind of like, ‘what now?’” he laughed.

Haruka nodded.

“Maybe it’s a sign,” Rin continued. “Like… all those times before, it’s like we weren’t ready yet. But now that we’ve made it this far, we’re finally ready to take on the world.”

“...Sap.”

“Shut up,” Rin said, shoving Haruka’s arm gently. “As if you weren’t thinking the same thing.”

Actually, Haruka was thinking about a younger Rin, sighing dreamily about the thought of swimming in a pool full of cherry blossom petals. How that younger, more innocent Rin had a smile so pure and full of joy, it had made Haruka’s chest flutter. How, despite everything, this new Rin had finally, _finally_ found a way to smile like that again.

“Hey.” Rin reached a hand behind Haruka’s ear.

Haruka froze.

Rin pulled away, a spot of pink pinched between his fingers. “You had a petal in your hair.”

“Oh.” _You have one too,_ Haruka wanted to say, but his voice wasn’t quite working at the moment.

Rin shoved his hands back in his pockets, hunching his shoulders. “‘S kinda cold,” he murmured.

“Come back to my house for some tea, then,” Haruka said, before he realized he was even speaking.

Rin smiled, the slow kind of smile that at first only touched his mouth, and then gradually traveled up to his eyes as it lit up his face. It was Haruka’s favorite smile. “Sure.”

* * *

Rin’s sock had a hole in it. Haruka could not stop staring at it. This perfect, put-together, always-on-top-of-things Rin had a hole in his sock. It was just above the heel, the kind of spot that gets worn out from taking off and putting on shoes too many times. Haruka wondered if Rin’s foot was cold. He wondered if Rin even noticed the hole.

Rin sipped his tea slowly, both hands cradling the cup. “Ahh,” he breathed. “Warm.”

“That’s the point.”

Rin rolled his eyes.

Haruka stared into his own cup. “...Do you want anything to eat?”

“I’m good, thanks,” Rin said. “I shouldn’t stay too long. Mom’s expecting me for dinner.”

_Have dinner here instead,_ Haruka thought helplessly.

“Besides,” Rin laughed, “you’re probably just having mackerel again.”

Haruka’s grip tightened around his cup. _I’ll make anything you want. Just stay._ “That’s true,” he said instead.

At some point, Rin had turned the TV on for some background noise. Some variety show played behind Haruka on low volume. Rin’s eyes occasionally darted over to see.

_Look at me instead._

“Haru,” Rin said, quieter now. “D’you think we’re really ready?”

Haruka blinked. “What do you mean?”

“I mean…” Rin ran his fingers through his hair. “...I don’t know. Just a weird feeling. Forget it.”

“No.” Haruka leaned forward. “Tell me.”

Rin sighed. “I mean, what if we _aren’t_ ready? What happens then?”

“Rin,” Haruka said slowly. “Are we… still talking about swimming?”

“...I don’t know.”

Haruka shuffled around the low table to sit next to Rin. _Not too close,_ he warned himself. “I think,” he said carefully, “that you can’t ever really be ready. For anything. You just have to do it.”

Rin smiled. “Yeah, that sounds like something you’d say.”

Haruka allowed himself a small smile. “I learned that from you, you know.”

Rin tilted his head to one side. “Learned what?”

“That sometimes, you have to just… dive in.” Haruka looked away. Someone had just won a prize on the variety show. A travel package for two. “If it weren’t for that, I’d probably be content to just stay home and spend half my time in the bathtub.”

Rin nodded. “You’d be content, maybe. But you wouldn’t be _happy._ ”

“Yeah.” Haruka took a slow, measured sip of tea. “I guess… I have you to thank for that. So… thank you, Rin.”

“...I’m the same, you know.”

Haruka turned to look at Rin.

“You really changed everything for me, too,” Rin said quietly, pink dusting his cheeks. “So I have to thank you, too.”

Haruka bit his lip. “...You’re welcome.”

“...You too.”

A commercial started playing in the background. They finished their tea in near silence, only exchanging a few meaningless words.

Rin stood, pushing away from the table. “I should get going. It’s getting late.”

“Rin.” Haruka rose to his feet.

“Huh--”

Haruka crushed Rin in a fierce hug, burying his face in his neck.

Rin, once unfrozen, wrapped his arms tightly around Haruka’s shoulders. “Haru...”

They stood in their fragile embrace for only a moment before Haruka tore himself away, remembering his shame. “Get home safe,” he murmured.

Rin swallowed, nodding once. “Yeah.” He smiled softly, his eyes full of fondness. This was maybe Haruka’s second favorite smile of Rin’s. It might have been his favorite, if it hadn’t been so hard to look at directly.

Haruka saw Rin to the door, waving him off. Once the door was shut, the house felt strangely silent. The TV was still playing somewhere in the background, but to Haruka’s ears, it might as well have been underwater.

He shut off the TV, leaning down to pick up the empty teacups.

Something on the table caught his eye. He squinted to inspect it, and as he realized what it was, a smile grew on his face.

A petal.

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry if this one was a bit meh. I was out all day yesterday and I woke up with a cold today so now I'm falling behind (sweats)
> 
> Thank you for reading, nonetheless!


End file.
